“We are living through the most momentous change in human communication in human history.” Over the past couple of weeks, I have considered three of the four main responses Paul and I receive when we insist upon seeing the advent of Web 2.0 as a paradigm shift in human communication. So far, I’ve ruminated on: 1. We are not; 2. I can ignore it, so it can’t be that big a deal; and 3. It’s not a change at all, but a...

In Orality and Literacy, Walter Ong makes the startling–and since much debated–claim that writing “heightens consciousness,” because it alienates the writer from the present moment. He goes on to explain: Alienation from a natural milieu can be and indeed is in many ways essential for full human life. To live and understand fully, we need not only proximity, but also distance. This writing provides for consciousness as...

Over the past two years, there have tended to be two responses to the work that Paul and I have been doing with multimedia composing and publishing. The first response is defined by tremendous enthusiasm, expressed in the form of ticker-tape parades on Madison Avenue, babies tossed in the air, meetings with the President, free trips to Disney. Reception following the talk The second response, much rarer to be sure, is skepticism and puzzlement....

The Death of the Humanities, Act five, Scene four: Action! Messenger enters stage left, exasperated: “How can you still be still there, typing? The barbarians are at the gates. Can you not hear their fury? The rattling of the chains?” The professor looks up, surprised. “But I am fighting, can’t you see? I’m here, in my office, writing a letter to SUNY’s President right now. “A letter?” “Yes....

Nice title, eh? * We are fortunate to be living through the greatest change in human communication in human history. This change is bigger and more momentous than our distant ancestors’ slow crawl from the muck to dry land where, over great swaths of time, they came to grunt at one another meaningfully. It is more significant than the invention of the alphabet. It is more important than anything that was set in motion by the grinding gears of...